On Thu, 2005-06-23 at 21:52 +0800, Zak B. Elep wrote:
> Orlando Andico <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > OTOH I believe that Linux TCO really WOULD be higher than Windows for
> > shops which are pure Windows to start with. Re-training is expensive,
> > and Windows licenses CAN be cheap, depending on how much pull you
> > have...
>
> Indeed. So I guess trying to get small- and medium-sized internet
> cafés to migrate from Windows to FOSS (be it Linux or BSD) is a rather
> tall pipe dream, don't you think? =( Not only would such shops consider
> retraining, but the overall maintenance of the FOSS machines with
> respect to hardware and software support as well. ;)
>
> Still, as far as pipe dreams go, I think adventurous capitalists with a
> clue for FOSS could realize a Linux-based café *now* as current
> Linux/FOSS alternatives for user apps are at par with, if not surpass,
> commercial products; or, at the very least, they can have their shops
> run Mozilla{, Firefox} instead of IE...
> No problems with running Linux on cafe computers -- however, it's the customers' clamor for something familiar and the latest and greatest games. Majority of your target market would want to play games when they enter the computer shop, so it's not good business sense to put up a computer shop that doesn't offer computer games. It can be shown that in urban areas, computer shops are easily substituted for gaming arcades -- in that almost all the people that pay to play in computer shops would want to play games more than surf the net. Although there are specialty computer cafe's that cater to the netizen -- someone who communicates, shops, and lives a life in the digital divide -- where Linux/FOSS *might* thrive in but is still a long shot. Business-wise, it's even better to invest on non-free software to offer the most familiar and most "user friendly" (not to mention popular) software titles out there. And it's always better to show your investors/partners and maybe shareholders a bottom line that's positive due to sales volume -- and not because of low maintenance costs and very little sales. Maybe there are avenues where Linux is better for business -- perhaps mail servers, DNS servers, and server markets. However a detailed study should be done for better analysis of a system within a given context. It boils down really to where the money is -- and right now (AFAIK) Linux/Open Source and Computer Shops do not mix well, and that's not where the money is. However, I still like Linux and it's place in the market -- only not in computer shops. -- Dean Michael C. Berris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> GPG Key: 0x08AE6EAC http://mikhailberis.blogspot.com Mobile: +63 921 7841815
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